Basically, I’m just thinking out loud here though I do indeed have an opinion, and I’ll eventually get to that. But the question I’m posing is this…are project managers born or trained? Are we born with the inherent leadership traits that make us good project managers, or do we learn these along the way? And what are these leadership traits? What makes a project manager a good project manager – or even equipped to think about becoming a project manager at all?

I would be very interested in hearing what our readers consider to be the key traits of a good project manager. For me, there are three that specifically come to mind….

Ability to make unwavering decisions

This is a tough one because out of the gate as a new project manager it’s next to impossible to make those tough decisions and stand by them when you know you might be wrong. The key always is to rely as much as possible on your experienced team to help you with those decisions and any key stakeholders who are available to discuss options with. The project manager that always acts like an island is bound to make a terrible decision – a career defining…or ending…terrible decision and isn’t likely to be in the profession long.

You’ve surrounded yourself with good resources…use them whenever possible. But once you’ve made the major decision for the project, that’s when you need to stand by the decision and move forward in what you believe is the right direction for the project, the team, and the customer. You may be in the category of ‘fake it till you make it’ but you need to exude leadership and you start by making the tough choices and hard decisions and moving forward.

Ability to keep key resources engaged and focused

A key leadership quality of a project manager is the ability to take diverse resources and mold them into a cohesive, collaborative unit. And it’s critical that you figure out a way to keep them engaged on the project and focused on those tasks you’ve assigned to them. Certainly they have other work to do and likely may have other projects they are assigned to. But as the project manager for THIS project, it is your job to make sure they are accountable to the tasks you’ve assigned them and the work they need to complete. How you do that is up to you and the creativity and leadership you bring to the project. For me it’s meeting with them regularly to discuss their tasks so they know they’re being held accountable, and I also make sure they have to get in front of the customer to give progress reports so they know their actions and efforts will be highly visible on the project. I can’t say I’ve ever had a problem with resources not being focused and accountable as long as I’ve expected this level of accountability from them.

Ability to communicate effectively and efficiently

Finally, the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently on the project is a key trait for the project leader on an engagement. In fact, it’s a critical aspect of being able to effectively perform the first two roles above. The project manager who can’t effectively communicate expectations, status, responsibilities, and decisions on the project to the team, the customer and his senior management is doomed to fail in his profession. In my opinion, there is no greater PM trait than this one. This is the building block for the effective and productive project manager.

Summary

I’m going to state right now that I don’t think there is any way we are ‘born’ to be project managers. I certainly think there are traits about ourselves that make us better or worse candidates to be project managers than the next person down the line. That is certainly true. But are those born traits or learned traits? I think we are more a product of our environment and upbringing and experiences (including birth order, etc.) than anything else. And I’m always happy to engage the other side of the discussion, so please feel free to tell me I’m wrong. I think that the traits needed to become a good project manager are shaped along the way and knowingly or unknowingly guide us toward the PM profession or toward the situations that land us in these key leadership roles.

Thoughts? Please join in the discussion.

Facebook Comments

Thomas Lewis

I would say that this element (communication) should be first and foremost; the prior 2 elements cannot exist without this element.

Communication, and the ability to communicate on all levels, is in my mind the foremost skill that the effective Project Manager brings to the table. A PM can have in-depth knowledge of all other aspects of a project, but if s/he cannot effectively communicate the essentials to all stakeholders, then the project has at best, a minimal chance of success. The true measure of a successful PM is not his or her intimate knowledge of the specifics, but an intimate understanding of the ‘people processes’ integral to the successful completion of the project, and the ability to communicate the true needs of the project across multiple disciplines, and to help to achieve consensus. That being said, it is important for the PM to have and hold a basic understanding of the project elements, and to then be able to communicate to all stakeholders the need(s) for their individual understanding and adaptability in order to achieve the ultimate goal. The ability to effectively communicate across the enterprise is the most important skill for a PM in any endeavor, in my mind.
From the prior post: “Finally, the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently on the project is a key trait for the project leader on an engagement. In fact, it’s a critical aspect of being able to effectively perform the first two roles above. The project manager who can’t effectively communicate expectations, status, responsibilities, and decisions on the project to the team, the customer and his senior management is doomed to fail in his profession. In my opinion, there is no greater PM trait than this one. This is the building block for the effective and productive project manager.

bradegeland

We seem to share the same thoughts on the absolute need for solid communication skills coming from the project manager. Without that skill, they will not be long for the profession.

begeland

I completely agree. In fact, on less complex projects, I think some project managers can sort of ‘fake it till they make it’ as long as they are very good communicators. Effective and efficient communication is Job One for the project manager and I always want me team to tell me that I communicate with them more frequently and that they feel they know more about what’s happening on my projects than projects they are working on for other project managers. So far, that’s been the case…if they stop telling me that then I’ll be concerned.

Thanks for commenting!
Brad Egeland

JJ Joseph

The best project managers come from the armed forces. They invest huge amounts of time & energy learn the listed skills. They’re definitely “made” – not “born”!

nm

One thing i noticed about the good project manager was the ability to quickly summarize the meetings and put forth the action plan which i believe is his/her mental ability to remain focus on the project objectives and not deviated from the suggestions coming out from other members which might pull the project in different direction than initially intended or to look for clarity in those different suggestions and even sometime put together different suggestion coming from different members and doing that right there by the end of meetings which i believed requires some natural mental tendency and can not be learned in books or through experience because every project is different, every meetings are different and every problems are different. and that keeps me off from taking leadership roles because whenever i ask myself whether could i have come out of that solution from the meeting and most of the time my answer was no ! so even though i consider myself technically strong i don’t believe i do have that mental ability to juggle through the ideas and come out of clearly defined action plan or solution which i believe comes naturally to the good project managers which of course nothing but leaders and we know leaders are born and not created.

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